Kevin Simon, a medical student at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, has been awarded the 2013-14 National Institute of Mental Health Medical Student Fellowship in Mental Health Research. It is administered by the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pittsburgh, Pa. Simon is the first student at SIU to receive the award, which was given to only seven medical students in the U.S. this year. He will begin the year-long fellowship in September.

During the fellowship, Simon will study how children with behavior disorders benefit from receiving mental health services from a primary care provider. He also will work in underserved communities to educate families about an anger-management intervention.

The fellowship was established by NIMH in 2009 to promote the development of physician-scientists with interests in clinical, translational and health services research.

Simon, a fourth-year medical student, is the son of Mauclair and Lydie Simon of Brooklyn, N.Y. He is a graduate of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md. (2008), and Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. (2003).

SIU School of Medicine’s mission is to assist the people of central and southern Illinois in meeting its health care needs through education, patient care, research and service to the community. For information, call SIU’s Call Center, 217-545-8000 or 1-800-342-5748. Its website is www.siumed.edu.

The mission of SIU School of Medicine is to assist the citizens of central and southern Illinois in meeting their health-care needs through education, patient care, research and service to the community.